Rinko Kawauchi: “I was a wave, a roller coaster of feelings. I'm improving, but I'm chaotic.”'

Rinko Kawauchi: “I was a wave, a roller coaster of feelings. I'm improving, but I'm chaotic.”'

Sunday, January 11, 2015

The place chosen for the interview with Rinko Kawauchi has the delicate climate of her photographs. Japanese soft-spoken artist comes into the elegant lobby of the hotel I was staying in Paraty.

The place chosen for the interview has the delicate climate of Rinko Kawauchi photographs. Japanese soft-spoken artist comes into the elegant lobby of the hotel I was staying in Paraty.

White shirt, scarf branca - almost clear, navy tailored pants, sandals and thick heels. Jump in Paraty? Only a Japanese could parade with elegance by winding the stone floor of the city.

Since the arrival of the photographer, the most talked about subject of Paraty em Foco, which ended its tenth edition September 28, 2014 (Paraty em Foco is an international festival of photography taking place in Brazil), was her monosyllabic way of communicating, merely moving her head to say "yes" or "no” and showing few facial expressions. Given the situation, Entretempos chose an unusual path for the conversation.

If the dialogue was restricted to a few sentences, how about a quick game of words? For each colour or quoted object, she would have to describe the corresponding sensation that came to mind. One half of the blog explained the method to the photographer and she laughed. Phew, a smile! The proposal seems to have worked and she loosened up, even for longer questions.

Rinko was born on April 6, 42 years ago, an Aries. Such persons are said to be chaotic, in contrasts with the delicate and harmonious images in Rinko’s books. "In addition to her personality, you also set your photos as well?" Asks the report. "Absolutely!" was the answer. As the principal photographer of the country, Rinko produces everyday images that establish relationships between life, death and destruction as a sign of renewal. In 2001, she released three books at once, which became classics. In these works, ephemeral moments and phenomena of nature are covered in a subtle way.

"When I was younger, it was like a wave, a roller coaster of feelings. Now I'm getting a little better, or at least trying. "The Japanese say that practicing yoga and trying to create some momentos through your breathing is a rational process. And therapy? "In Japan, it is very rare. People do not have the habit of talking about their lives. I talk about my feelings with close friends, "he says. "But I read books about psychology and diaries of people I admire. This helps me, I think. "

The bird in the lobby is trying to compete with the voice of Rinko. The blog piração packs in and asks if it is possible to shoot sounds. "A song can change the perception of a scene. I shoot every day of my life, often just as echoes in my head. Are not photo shoots, but only feelings of a photo?" We begin, then, the play of words…

White? Nirvana. Red? Energy. Blue? Calm. Yellow? My nephew. Green? Comfort. Black? Loneliness. Crystal? Hope. Rainbow? Perfection. Seeks perfection? Sometimes many times. Soundtrack to your work? Tchaikovsky. A filmmaker? Pedro Almodóvar. And to direct a movie about your life? Hirokazu Koreeda. A writer? Banana Yoshimoto. A photographer? May be out of the picture too? Gabriel Orozco, James Turrell, Rei Naito, Leiko Ikemura and Terri Weifenbach. Beach or mountains? Mountain, silence and green. To swim? Pool, always. Coffee or tea? Coffee. Real or imagined world? An imagined reality. Reality because I photograph my world and where I live. Imagined, what is my clipping? Photography? Mirror. Selfie? Just when I was younger. The future? Tarot.

Rinko is learning to read the tarot cards. I tried to get her to read your future but it is not in the cards, which yields a good laugh. After some mystical musings on the subject, the Japanese concluded that the letters can be like a photograph. You choose to believe that promising future, and choose to believe in a photographic image, which is already a piece of reality. Finally, would it be possible to make a portrait of the photographer? "Gee ..."

I took the photo. She did not like the result, and asked me to shoot again, now with her almost holding my cell phone. Rinko smiles and reaches for me with her arms, as if guided.

She approved the photo and ended the conversation. But she continued there, sitting there with her book ... A few minutes later, I stood up and walked to the edge of the pool to shoot. The day was still overcast, but maybe another bird sang and rolled that momentary inspiration that she had?